Author Topic: Any forex traders here?  (Read 5923 times)

Patrick

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2550
  • Karma: +47/-2
    • View Profile
Any forex traders here?
« on: March 07, 2016, 09:07:32 am »
I'd love to hear from you. I'm not particularly keen to get into trading, but I'm thinking it might be a cost effective way to convert ZAR to USD.

After a bunch of research I've found that I can exchange most major currencies with my interactive brokers brokerage account, for instance I can convert USD to GBP or EUR to USD for 0.01% commission. They allow me to convert to and from ZAR very cheaply too, but don't have a local account so I can't deposit ZAR unfortunately.

Moneypenny

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1891
  • Karma: +37/-0
    • View Profile
    • Bu Valiere
Re: Any forex traders here?
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2016, 09:34:29 am »
Haven't tried yet.

Mr_Dividend

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 586
  • Karma: +21/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Any forex traders here?
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2016, 10:17:34 am »
what the objective Patrick? To trade or to just to have hard currency? Do you need to access overseas? Does leverage bother you?

you could buy this of course.

http://etfcib.absa.co.za/Products/ExchangeTradedNotes/Currencies/NewWaveUSDETN/Pages/default.aspx

interested in this, but haven't looked too closely at it

payoneer.com - might be worth looking at


Patrick

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2550
  • Karma: +47/-2
    • View Profile
Re: Any forex traders here?
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2016, 10:26:07 am »
what the objective Patrick? To trade or to just to have hard currency? Do you need to access overseas? Does leverage bother you?
...
payoneer.com - might be worth looking at


It's all part of the research into a cost effective way to get money out of SA should I want to do that at some stage, and I mean out out, not just in a different currency.

I'm looking into payoneer, but still need to see what their costs look like. I really wish TransferWise would open up in SA. They facilitate peer to peer transfers, so in effect your money doesn't cross borders, and actually isn't converted at all, it's just given to someone who wanted your currency for theirs. It's very cheap, but at the moment only transfers to rand, and not from it.

MoneyChief

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 78
  • Karma: +5/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Any forex traders here?
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2016, 10:38:40 am »
I used to dabble in some FX trading. I used a company called FXCM. My background is in electronic engineering, so the one day I did a fourier transform on the currency pair and out came white noise. Basically that means that the input data was random random. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense, since when and how much currency is traded is random. There is no way of knowing when some random person somewhere on the planet is going to buy some random amount of Rands. Then I started reading up on this which led me to the random walk theory. When you plot currencies it LOOKS like it has a pattern, but in reality there is no pattern, it is just a random walk (check it out on Wikipedia).

It is always funny to me when people use "technical analysis" and draw lines on the charts to show support and momentum, etc. It is all just an illusion unfortunately.

As for trading actual currency, I use to use the services of 1st contact. Much better rates than the banks.

Mr_Dividend

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 586
  • Karma: +21/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Any forex traders here?
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2016, 10:52:02 am »
I used to dabble in some FX trading. I used a company called FXCM. My background is in electronic engineering, so the one day I did a fourier transform on the currency pair and out came white noise. Basically that means that the input data was random random. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense, since when and how much currency is traded is random. There is no way of knowing when some random person somewhere on the planet is going to buy some random amount of Rands. Then I started reading up on this which led me to the random walk theory. When you plot currencies it LOOKS like it has a pattern, but in reality there is no pattern, it is just a random walk (check it out on Wikipedia).

It is always funny to me when people use "technical analysis" and draw lines on the charts to show support and momentum, etc. It is all just an illusion unfortunately.

As for trading actual currency, I use to use the services of 1st contact. Much better rates than the banks.

How would you then explain individuals that have far out stripped the market for decades? Some examples can be found in Market Wizards.

MoneyChief

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 78
  • Karma: +5/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Any forex traders here?
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2016, 01:32:40 pm »
How would you then explain individuals that have far out stripped the market for decades? Some examples can be found in Market Wizards.

If there are indeed a few FX traders that make big returns over the long term, it is probably due to survivorship bias (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias).

Please note that I am specifically talking about day trading in currencies. Buy and hold stock index buying is a very different animal.

Mr_Dividend

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 586
  • Karma: +21/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Any forex traders here?
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2016, 03:37:54 pm »
Interesting. Never heard of of that terminology before. I know too little to debate the matter, TBO.

My feeling is that trading in the markets is like 7 guys playing poker against a pro. Anyone can win the next hand, it's totally random. But the pro always leaves the night with the pot.

At the moment, I am not one of the 7 guys. I 'm the guy at home that was invited to the game, but I cannot find my car keys... :(

jaDEB

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4534
  • Karma: +30/-3
    • View Profile
Re: Any forex traders here?
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2016, 07:39:23 am »
At the moment, I am not one of the 7 guys. I 'm the guy at home that was invited to the game, but I cannot find my car keys... :(

 :D , Good 1
jaDEB

If it scares you, it's a sign you need to do it